David's Diary: Thursday, May 16, 2002

Stintino, Sardinia

Our plan was to end our passage at Bonifacio on the southern coast of Corsica. Our route took us right past the northwest corner of Sardinia and as we approached the coast of Sardinia in the late afternoon we considered a change in plan. Continuing on would mean arriving in Bonifacio in the middle of the night. We had also discovered last night that both of our port and starboard running lights were not working and we had no spares onboard. Spending another night without running lights and arriving after dark in a strange harbour made us pull out the Italian pilot guide and find an alternate plan.

We decided to head for Stintino, a harbour inside the northwest corner of Sardinia. In order to get there, we had to navigate the narrow Fornelli Passage. After more than twenty-four hours travel, we lined up the transit marks and watched as the depth sounder got lower and lower. After careful navigation, we headed out into deeper water and set our course for Stintino harbour. We anchored behind the breakwater and congratulated ourselves on our longest passage ever. After one day and nine hours we had crossed 225 nautical miles (415 kilometers).

Stintino Harbour

After our interrupted sleep on passage we were thankful for a good night's sleep in Stintino. The next morning we got up and did a full morning of school. We might have completed our longest passage ever crossing the Western Mediterranean Sea, but that means we're another day behind in school. By lunch time we were all eager to head ashore and explore our first town in Italy.

Northern Sardinia

We rowed up to the head of the harbour and tied up. We walked through town and saw a nice looking restaurant with classical red-checked table cloths. We were all hungry and sat down and ordered a pasta lunch. With our mouth's watering, we were eager to dig in to a fresh-made Italian meal. When our knives and forks arrived in plastic wrap with a napkin, we started to get suspicious. Our lunch was a popular brand of frozen pasta, heated up in the microwave oven. A couple of our dishes hadn't even spent quite enough time in the microwave. So much for an introduction to fresh-made Italian food.

Ancora Yacht Club

After lunch we went for a long walk that took us back to the coast of the northwest corner of Sardinia. The water was aquamarine blue as a few clouds blew across the sky high above. We stopped at the Ancora Yacht Club, which was deserted at this time of year. We had considered the spot as a possible place to head for yesterday, but on close inspection we were glad that we hadn't paid a visit. The quay looked a little run-down and the water was so shallow that we're certain we would have hit bottom.

We walked back to Stintino and did a little shopping. We knew we were in Italy as we saw the wide variety of fresh pasta on sale. We chose some large, round, cheese-filled pasta. Back onboard Dragonsinger we all enjoyed the pasta with a cream sauce as we took in the beautiful evening and had dinner in the cockpit. The settled Western Mediterranean weather continued to provide us with another calm night at anchor.